The Shelby County Assessor of Property’s 2012 combined appraisal for the stores, which were built in 2003 and 2004 and total more than 36,000 square feet, is about $2.6 million.

The stores will be leased to Family Dollar through April 2027 with an option to extend for as many as 30 years.

Phoenix-based Cole has been the top buyer of net-leased single-tenant properties in the United States during the past decade, according to the company. Cole reported May 1 it had passed the $10 billion mark in assets under management, comprising 1,650 properties totaling about 61.5 million square feet of commercial real estate.

Family Dollar, based near Charlotte, N.C., operates 7,100 stores in 45 states.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

– Daily News staff

FedEx Closes Deal to Buy French Shipper TATEX

Memphis-based FedEx Express has signed an agreement to buy TATEX, a French business-to-business express transportation company.

FedEx executives announced last month they were in talks with TATEX, which focuses on heavy shipments of parts and technology within France.

TATEX is the latest in a series of acquisitions by the Memphis-based cargo and logistics giant. In this deal, FedEx gets a set of domestic routes and business centers the company can then connect to its global network.

TATEX was founded in 1976 and has more than 1,000 employees in a national network that includes a central hub south of Paris and six regional hubs.

In the eight-month period ending May 31, FedEx will have opened 38 new stations across Europe.

– Bill Dries

Monogram Food Awarded Johnsonville Licensing

Monogram will soon begin producing Johnsonville Deli Bites, available in Original, Salami and Beef varieties, as well as Applewood Smoked Bacon Jerky. These products are expected to hit retail and convenience store shelves nationwide this summer.

Additional meat snack offerings are being developed and are expected to launch in the future as well.

Haslam Signs Municipal Schools Referendum Bill

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam on Wednesday, May 9, signed the bill that includes allowing referendums on municipal school districts this year in suburban Shelby County.

The bill, approved late in the recently ended legislative session, got to Haslam’s desk Thursday, May 3.

Haslam said earlier that he had concerns about the impact of a move this year to municipal school districts on the work of planning for the merger of city and county public schools in Shelby County starting in August 2013.

He also said with the work of the schools planning commission on that merger blueprint to be done sometime in June, he believes the referendums won’t interfere with that.

The goal of suburban backers of separate school districts is to have those districts open for classes at the same time that the consolidated school district opens for classes.

The boards of aldermen in several suburban municipalities were expected to move by the end of this month to set referendum dates on the Aug. 2 ballot to be followed by school board elections on the Nov. 6 ballot if voters in those towns and cities approve the question of creating the municipal school districts.

Qualifying petitions for candidates in those school board races could start to be issued in June.

– Bill Dries

Visible Music College Names McFarland VP of Business

Christy McFarland has been promoted from director of marketing to vice president of business at the Memphis-based Visible Music College, a music and worship arts college in downtown Memphis.

As part of her new role, McFarland will oversee the college’s marketing/PR, business and operational functions.

Before joining Visible, she served as the director of communications at Christian Community Health Fellowship, a national network of health clinics headquartered in Memphis with the mission of serving the poor through health care delivery. She also previously served as the director of public affairs at Crichton College (now known as Victory University).

– Andy Meek

Youth Villages Wins $145K Starbucks Foundation Grant

Memphis-based nonprofit Youth Villages won first place in a recent Starbucks voting promotion and will receive $145,000 from the company to help children with emotional and behavioral problems and their families in Tennessee and four other states.

Youth Villages came in first in the five states in which it competed: Tennessee, Arkansas, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Oregon. Although it was only on the ballot in a handful of states, Youth Villages came in fifth in total votes nationally.

The Starbucks Foundation will give away $4 million through its “Vote.Give.Grow.” program, designed to help communities flourish and allow Starbucks customers in those areas to decide where the funding goes.

Youth Villages this year will help more than 18,000 children and families in 11 states and Washington, D.C. The organization’s programs include intensive in-home services, residential treatment, foster care and adoption, transitional living services, mentoring and crisis services. Youth Villages has been recognized by Harvard Business School, U.S. News & World Report and the White House as a model for data-driven social innovation. It was named one of America’s 50 Best Nonprofits to Work For in 2010 and 2011 by the Nonprofit Times and Best Companies Group.

– Aisling Maki

US Rate on 30-Year Mortgage Hits Record Low

Average U.S. rates for 30-year and 15-year fixed mortgages fell to fresh record lows this week. Cheap mortgage rates have made home-buying and refinancing more affordable than ever for those who can qualify.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on the 30-year loan ticked down to 3.83 percent. That’s the lowest since long-term mortgages began in the 1950s. And it’s below the previous record rate of 3.84 percent reached last week.

The 15-year mortgage, a popular option for refinancing, dropped to 3.05 percent, also a record. That’s down from last week’s previous record of 3.07 percent.

Low mortgage rates haven’t done much to boost home sales. Rates have been below 4 percent for all but one week since early December. Yet sales of both previously occupied homes and new homes fell in March.

There have been some positive signs in recent months. January and February made up the best winter for sales of previously occupied homes in five years.

And builders are laying plans to construct more homes in 2012 than at any other point in past 3 1/2 years. That suggests some see the housing market slowly starting to turn around.

Still, many would-be buyers can’t qualify for loans or afford higher down payments required by banks.

Home prices in many cities continue to fall. That has made those who can afford to buy uneasy about entering the market.

And for those who are willing to brave the troubled market, many have already taken advantage of lower rates – mortgage rates have been below 5 percent for more than a year now.